HOW-TO | HALLOWEEN '13 | SHHH...

After posting this photo slash video on my Instagram I recieved questions about how I did it so I thought I'd take you through the steps even though Halloween has passed for most people now. What you'll need is sewing thread, fake blood, skin glue and cream makeup for bruising.

Before starting working on the threads I used cream makeup to make a slightly bruised look around the mouth. As you can tell I went for the look of a very mild and fresh (-as in recent) kind of bruising instead of the blue-ish, purple, red colours you would have if the bruise would be a couple of hours or a day older. Choose the look you prefer.

Cut some sewing thread into small pieces - approx. 8 cm. Apply small dots of glue along your upper lip where you want your thread to go in and out and attach the ends of the thread to the glue. Let it dry for a while, then measure how long you'll need your pieces of thread to be (depending on the size of your lips), cut them off at the lenght you need and repeat the glue step along your lower lip. Make sure you think about the direction of the thread and the natural round movements when sewing; where the thread would go in and out so that you'll know if to put the end on the upper or lower side of your mouth.

Now it's time for blood and that natural round movement of the thread that I mentioned is something you can work with here as well. Just think about where the thread is coming out and where it's going in - personally I put a bit more blood where it was going OUT so that it looks like the thread was dragging some of the blood out, which may not be needed for the spots where the needle would be going IN, in case you don't prefer to do the other way around or to add blood all over the thread which is also an alternative - it all depends on what you like and how bloody you want it. I added a small amount of a thicker kind of blood - a blood paste - to the spots where the thread was going out and a thinner, "regular", fluid blood to the other areas. And that's it, really!